Conan O'Brien impugns the dignity of French-Canadians:
- Ottawa and the province of Ontario paid $760,000 to help O'Brien — who appears on the NBC television network — bring his show to Toronto for a week to boost the city's profile after a deadly SARS outbreak last year.
But the federal government said O'Brien had gone far too far with the show broadcast on Thursday in which he went to Quebec, a province which has had separatist governments for much of the last 20 years and is a delicate political topic in Canada.
"We want to disassociate ourselves from the comments which were broadcast last night because we do not support them in any way," junior government minister Mauril Belanger told Parliament.
At one point in the show, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — a hand puppet that is a regular on the show — said to a Quebecer: "You're French, you're obnoxious and you no speekay English." It told another: "I can smell your crotch from here."
O'Brien's team were also shown replacing street signs in the province with those that read "Quebecqueer Street" and "Rue des Pussies." [Reuters]
I have heard rumors that not every single French-Canadian is smelly, obnoxious and gay, but I can't confirm either way.
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Article comments
1 - HW Saxton Jr.
Eric,I don't have the energy right now to tackle this as I would like too but:
1)It seemed that Conan was only playing
off the rivalry between the two cities,
much too Toronto's delight if the laughs
were to be believed.
2)What with all the USA bashing Canucks
indulge in,it seems that they should find some,if just the smallest bit,of
humor about themselves.
3)Maybe it's just a French thang,C'est
Na pas?
2 - Eric Olsen
I think you're right on all three, mon frere
3 - Jonathan
I live in montreal.. in quebec..
I thought this was hilarious.
Actually everyone I know thought it was funny, and I'm friends with alot of hardcore Quebecker's.
4 - Eric Olsen
I'm very glad to hear this Jonathan, that "real" Canadians, as opposed to their pandering governmental representatives, can take a joke and have a sense of perspective.
5 - marcel caballero
As a canadian I can truly say I'm embaressed by our govt's over reaction over Triumph's jokes. Alexa Macdonough (the politician who said TTIC is "racist" and "Hate-mongering") is a washed up left wing extremist who hasnt had a headline in 5 yrs. This was just a way to get her name in the paper.
6 - Chris
Ok, granted the segment was very funny (I am a francophone from Montreal). Most of my friends who saw it, also agreed that it was funny to some extent.
There are however serious problems with airing such content. It is a highly sensitive issue in Quebec, and to be made fun of on national television by a guest of the Ontario government certainly is unsettling to many.
My friend Noah (an english speaking Canadian who lives in Toronto) perhaps gave the most convincing argument. Although he found the clip hilarious, he would have reacted differently had the clip been exactly the same but directed towards jews rather than french-Canadians.
Had it been, just try to imagine the scale of consequences. Would you have considered it racist if it had been? Are people over-reacting, maybe; but don't let you distance from the issue cloud your judgement about what is racist. Funny as it was, it was racist.